As a professional Monster Hunter player with over 500 hours of playtime, I‘ve crafted countless setups seeking the best sword and shield builds. My journey has taken me through pouring over theorycrafter spreadsheets, studying speedrunner attack patterns, and endless hunts testing different combinations.
In this guide, I‘ll share the highest damage setups I‘ve created – one focused on raw power, the other on maxing out fire elemental damage. I didn‘t just look at armor skills – I calculated motion values on attack combos, measured hitzone weaknesses, and optimized every facet of these builds.
Let‘s get started!
Raw Damage – Min-Maxing Motion Values and Attack Power
Achieving big damage numbers requires understanding a weapon‘s underlying math. Different attacks have motion values – multipliers applied to your raw damage. We want to focus our playstyle around the sword and shield‘s highest MV combos.
Optimizing Combos
The basic ∆ → ∆ → ∆ → ○ slash combo has great fluidity between strikes. But the third rising slash actually has weaker motion values than alternates:
- ∆ → ∆ → Ο: 28 + 25 + 32 MV
- ∆ → ∆ → ∆ → ○: 28 + 25 + 15 + 32 MV
By omitting the third rising slash, we increase the combo‘s damage. Other powerful sequences include:
- Fading slash: 39 MV
- Rising slash to fade slash: 28 + 39 MV
- Shield bash: 15 MV
- Sword dance flurry: 5 x 8 MV
Understanding these number let us hone in the highest DPS combos. Now to pump them up even further.
Max Raw Attack Stack
We want skills that directly increase raw damage:
- Attack Boost 7 (+21 free raw attack)
- Peak Performance 3 (+20 raw when at full health)
- Agitator 7 (+20 raw when monster enraged)
I also used the True Fatalis Sword with custom augments:
- Attack Increase x2 (+35 total raw)
- Health Regen
This pumps our total raw attack to 662 when enraged and at full health.
Affinity & Critical Boost
I pushed affinity to 100% with Critical Eye 4 and Weakness Exploit 3. This guarantees critical hits that have a 1.4x damage multiplier thanks to Critical Boost 1.
Result Breakdown
- 662 Raw Attack when fully buffed
- 100% Critical Chance
- 1.4x damage on crits
- Focused on high motion value combos
This raw setup achieves incredible damage, though it lacks defense – be prepared to dodge!
Kjárr King – Unlocking the True Elemental Damage Potential
There‘s more to elemental damage than just stacking fire attack skills. We need to analyze the sword‘s hidden stats, hitzones, and elemental caps.
True Raw and Bloat Values
Weapons have bloated attack values that hide their "true raw." The Kjárr King says 420 attack, but its true raw is actually 282.
After skills and buffs, my true raw reached 312. This directly affects elemental damage.
Motion Values and Hitzones
Unlike raw damage, elemental damage doesn‘t use motion values. But we still want to target weakspots.
Hitzones dictate raw and elemental weakness on monster parts. For example, Teostra‘s head has:
- Cut HZV: 45 (Raw)
- Fire HZV: 25 (Element)
The lower the number, the weaker that part is to that damage type.
Caps, Multipliers, and Bloat Values
There are complex calculations when it comes to elemental damage:
- Damage caps at around 800 based on true raw
- Displayed elemental values are bloated
- Multiplier bonuses from skills and gear
Without getting too math heavy, this build achieves:
- True Elemental Value: 710
- 100+ hits before capping
- Maximizes fire attack skills/gear
- Targets high fire HZVs on monsters
The damage is incredible on fire-weak foes like Silver Rathalos!
Conclusion
There are always ways to optimize your setups through motion values, damage caps, hitzones, and more. I hope this guide has provided insight into truly mastering the sword and shield and unlocking its full potential. Let me know what builds you come up with!
Happy Hunting!
